When it really comes down to it, if you want to “go out on your own” and do anything “freelance”, you only need one thing – clients. If you have clients, you’ll have work. If you have work, you’ll get paid. If you get paid, you’ll make it as a freelancer. Its as simple as that
The best freelancers are those who always have a new client primed before they leave their last client. Finding clients is not their issue, managing them is. This is true at the start of their freelancing career and throughout their career. You must be able to find clients.
There is not one best way to win clients. There are many many different methods you can try. We have summarised some of the main ones here but you are pretty much only restricted by your imagination and your tolerance to rejection. Here are some ideas.
1. Cold Contacting
In the old days, there was cold calling. Now, with the plethora of communication mediums available to us, I prefer the term cold contacting.
Cold contacting is a difficult way to acquire clients. There is typically a very high rejection rate (Ie. clients saying no to you) so you need to have a thick skin. It basically becomes a numbers game. If it takes you 100 rejections to get a new client signed, your client portfolio will grow depending on the number of phone calls you make. If you make 100 phone calls, you’ll have 1 client, 300 phone calls will land you 3 clients and 500 clients will keep you busy with 5. Your success depends on your ability to weather the 99 failures in good spirits before you win the next client.
2. Marketing and Advertising
This is the most expensive method of client acquisition. It simply entails that you put a sales message somewhere where your potential clients will see it and do it in a way that will make them call you. If you get this right, half the time the client has already made up their mind to use your services, before they’ve called you, so you do not have to sell at all. Another big benefits of this type of client acquisition is that you can reach a much larger audience, than you can cold contacting people.
And it is not as easy as spending a bit of money either. There is so much advertising out there, you must do your homework (or pay someone else to) to get it right. Some things you need to consider include location, capturing attention and your message. You need to put your advert where your target audience will see it. You need to create it in a way your audience will take notice and you must structure you message so your audience understands, takes action and calls you. This is quite a complex process. Getting it wrong will cost you. Getting it right could make you.
3. Networking and Referrals
This form of marketing is similar to cold calling as the emphasis is on you making contact with your prospective clients. It isn’t cold though as it entails you have been introduced by someone.
In a nutshell, referrals are about networking. Networking skills are really important no matter what job you have, but are even more so if you are freelancing. You are not being professionally responsible to yourself if you are not networking. It is basically a two way communication street. It is from your network that you pick up information about organisations who may need your skills and it is through your network that you are introduced to those people with a recommendations from someone you both trust. The recommendation based on trust is the critical part of the referral, this is where you’ll win business over your competitors.
4. Use A Placement Service
When I first became a contractor, the only thing I did was focus on supply organisations. I pretty quickly found a job with an organisation who had their own book of established customers. They placed me with their customers and took a percentage of the money I made. They made money with no expenses so they were happy, I could concentrate on making money rather than marketing my business so I was happy.
As you develop as a professional freelancer, you’ll find your own method of effective marketing. It will likely take on a variation of some of the methods outlined above, you may have your own unique method instead. There is no perfect method of finding clients, you must use the methods which work best for you.
If you are looking for jobs for your business or profession, Gnifrus Urquart has compiled plenty of expert tips which will see you through.